Ashley talked to actor Nick Shakoour about his encounter with the Holy Spirit and how it influenced him to write his book “Transformer.”

“When I arrived at work on August 3rd, 2022 and I had the voicemail, she was crying and she said, ‘I think I'm having a stroke.' And I work 30 miles from our home. So I shot out of there as quickly as I could."

Gary Florence received a frantic call from his wife, Robin, who was complaining of an intense headache. She then called her sister and was taken by ambulance to a local hospital. Robin was then life-flighted to York, Pennsylvania, where she went straight to surgery. “I was praying the whole way,” Gary said. “I had no idea what was going on. All I know is my wife was crying and she believed she was having a stroke.”

Robin suffered a brain bleed. Dr. Evan Fox, one of the physicians that treated Robin’s aneurism, recalled, “She had a subarachnoid hemorrhage resulting from an aneurism of the basilar artery, which is one of the arteries that goes and feeds the brain stem. Twenty-two percent don’t even make it to the hospital. Seventy-one percent don’t survive.”
 
“After the surgery, when I went into her room, she was on life-support and she had so many IVs sticking out of her. And her head was shaved right up the middle,” Gary recalled. “I took one look at her and I, I turned to the wall and I, I just started sobbing. Cause I thought to myself, ‘That's not my wife.’”

For several days her life hung in the balance. Her husband called friends and family to ask them to pray. Gary said, "There was a gentleman from our church, he sent me a text and it was from our intercessors. It said, 'This is not unto death, but this is to the glory of God.’ And I just, I took a hold of that.”

Robin’s condition initially improved rapidly—which shocked her doctors. “This nurse came up to me and he said, ‘Now, Gary, remember this is a 21-day marathon.’ But, this time yesterday, my wife was hanging between life and death and now you don't want me to get excited?” 

Then Robin had a major setback and was put back on life support. One of her doctors warned Gary how serious it still was. “He said, ‘We are in no way out of the woods yet.’ This is over two weeks since the initial surgery. And you’re saying we’re still in a life and death situation?’ He said, ‘But we haven't given up on her.’ So once again, I got on, started texting, calling, people started once again praying.”

Gary continued to make the three-hour round trip every day to the hospital to be by Robin’s side. “When I came home, as I'm pulling into the driveway, this is as strong as an audible voice that I've ever heard. But I heard such a resounding, in my spirit: ‘Whose report are you gonna believe?' And out loud, I said, ‘I choose to believe your Word.’”

Their family and friends continued to pray. Robin began to respond again. “The next day I walk into her room and as I'm looking at her, she's actually blinking her eyes for probably the first time in a week,” Gary remembered. “And the physician walks in. He says, ‘Well, how do you think your wife's looking?’ I said, ‘Well, she's looking a lot better than she did 24 hours ago.’ And he said, 'You know what? I think she's looking better too.’ Robin throws her right arm up over her head. This physician begins to chuckle. And he said, ‘Okay, now she's just showing off.'"

For the next three months, Robin gradually improved and she was eventually released. Today, she is fully recovered, with no serious side effects. “God had the right people at the right time exactly where they needed to be for me to survive what I survived,” Robin said. 

“I was concerned that she may pass away,” Dr. Fox said. “And I was concerned even more that she would not be able to get back to her normal self. Let alone—I hear she is back at work now, which is quite amazing. Very rare. Very unusual for somebody to have had such a significant bleed from this type of aneurism, to come back like this.” 

Although Gary and Robin were strong in their faith before, they say this experience has taken them to another level. “My faith has just exploded because I saw the supernatural, miraculous intervention of God. I saw with my own eyes my wife go from death to life.”

“He healed the lepers. He healed the lady with the issue of blood," Robin added. “And yet even greater things are we to do as followers and believers of Jesus Christ.”

“The Word says He's the same yesterday, today, and forever,” Gary stated. “And what He did back in the first century, He's doing in this century. But it's available for anyone.”

“I'm an ordinary girl, but I serve an extraordinary God,” Robin said, smiling. “I know He saved me. I know He touched me. I know He healed me. And I say that with all conviction, and He can heal anybody at any time. And He does."
 

Fayetteville, GA

“I had those moments, waking up just in a cold sweat,” says Abigail. “Knowing that the grim reaper was standing at the foot of my bed, like, ‘I have a right to be here. I took your dad out; I took your grandparents’--I never even knew my grandparents,” says Abigail. “‘I have a right. I’m here to get you too.’”

All her life, Abigail Hot-Jennings had braced herself for this moment...a battle with cancer. She’d watched her dad fight it for ten years, until he passed away when she was 16. Now, 42 years old, she’d been diagnosed with an aggressive form of metastatic cancer.

“I think the Lord was preparing me like, ‘You are about to enter a battle, but I am with you,’” says Abigail.

Less than a year earlier she’d undergone a double mastectomy after learning she had Stage 3 breast cancer. She thought she was in the clear. But six months later at a follow-up PET scan with her oncologist...

“’This is what I feared,’” says the oncologist. “‘It’s moved into your lungs. And, you see these places? These are places I cannot get to. This is-this is terminal and you will die from this.’”

The treatments he did offer were extreme and would only put off the inevitable.

“That is when that grim reaper - I could feel - I could feel that thing,” says Abigail. “That spirit of death, and that spirit of fear walk in the room. And, THEN, I felt wonderful Jesus walk in the room as well,” says Abigail. “And He said, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ And it was in that moment that something rose up inside of me,” says Abigail. “And, I remember answering Him in my mind, ‘This is gonna be a great line in my book one day.’ In other words, ‘I know you’re gonna heal me and I’m gonna write about this one day,’” says Abigail.

Abigail declined the treatments and decided she would fight cancer taking a natural and dietary approach, and above all, praying and believing God for healing.

“As believers, there is a hope inside of us. And so-now, did I just walk around like, ‘Oh, you know?’ I didn’t know how God was gonna do it, but I knew my eyes were on Him,” says Abigail.

Enlisting the prayers of her family and friends, Abigail, a single mom of two, talked openly with her children about her health.

“And I remember my little girl, Lily, came up to me with a magazine,” says Abigail. “And she opened the magazine. And she loved American Girl dolls. They now have an American Girl doll with no hair. And she said, ‘Mom, maybe I need to get this one this year in case you lose your hair.’ And I said, ‘Honey you will not have to order that doll, because Mommy is not losing her hair!’” says Abigail. 

Three months later, another PET scan showed the cancer was spreading aggressively in her lymph nodes. Holding onto hope was becoming harder.

“I simply had no options,” says Abigail. “I was just getting more scared and more frustrated, and would wake up with dreams, seeing like a movie screen—my funeral.”

Then, a couple months after getting that news, Abigail went to the Dominican Republic to visit a friend, a doctor, and take time to rest and seek God. Abigail remembers showing her friend the PET scan results.

“The look on her face when she read that last one, and I had never seen her look like that,” says Abigail. “That did rattle me. All I know to do is seek God with all my heart. That’s all I know to do.”

She would spend many hours that week in prayer, seeking God’s will. Late one night near the end of her visit...

“I got out there and I said, ‘God, I need to know, am I gonna die? What do you have to say about this?’” says Abigail. “It was just me and God. That is when I felt Jesus walk in, if you will. And I felt His presence. He said, ‘Abigail, I came to have a conversation with you. I came to actually go on a walk,’” says Abigail.

Abigail says she then saw a vision of herself with Jesus in Jerusalem. He walked her past the cross and into the tomb, where He lay down.

“And He said, ‘Watch this’ and He sat up. And He said, ‘Abigail, when I sat up, you sat up,’” says Abigail. “And then He walked to the entrance of the tomb, and I will never forget this as long as I live,” says Abigail. “He said, ‘When I walked out of the tomb, did I have cancer in my lungs?’ 'No, Jesus, you didn’t.' He said, ‘So do you have to have cancer in your lungs?’ 'No, Jesus, I don’t,'” responds Abigail. “And in that moment, I knew, I am cancer-free.”

A few weeks after she came home, Abigail faced yet another PET scan. She says that morning, Jesus spoke to her again.

“‘Good morning. This is the glory scan.’ And I went in that tube,” laughs Abigail. “You know I hate those things! And I just sang, not a fear-not-nothing.”

Later that day, a nurse called with the results...

“And she goes, ‘Abigail, I don’t really know what to say, but, uh, there’s nothing here. Like, there’s-there’s nothing here,’” says Abigail. “And I’m like, ‘I know! I know!’” 

At the follow-up appointment, her oncologist confirmed that Abigail was cancer-free.

“I don’t need my degree on my wall to see that this is a miracle,” states the oncologist.

That was 2017. And Abigail has been cancer-free ever since. To anyone who’s fighting a battle, her message is clear: keep your eyes on Jesus.

“He was trying to tell me, ‘This doesn’t have to do with you. I took care of sin at the cross. I took care of every disease. I took care of every sickness,’” says Abigail. “He is entirely the Healer. Entirely.”

Lihao has been an aspiring author since he was 10.

He explains, “I started writing about a boy who always overcame his enemies.  There was a lot of hope in my stories, which gave me hope.”

Lihao was born with a hole in his heart. His mother abandoned the family, leaving his father to raise Lihao alone.

“His colds were much worse than other kids’, his father says.  “He coughed and coughed, and his heart beat really hard.  He was like an old man who couldn’t catch his breath.  It was difficult to watch.”

Lihao adds, “My heart hurt really bad, like a big stone pressing on it.”

Mr. Song worked long hours in construction.  Whenever possible, he researched remedies and went to the mountains to get herbs he thought might cure Lihao’s heart.  But nothing worked, and Lihao continued to get worse. 

“The larger the hole got, the more pressure was on his heart, and the more pain,” declares Mr. Song.

“Sometimes in PE class, my heart beat really fast, like a needle was piercing me,”
Lihao shares.  “I felt dizzy, and my eyes got hot.  I covered my chest and lay on the ground.  My classmates laughed at me.”

Sometimes, he got pneumonia.

“He looked awful.  He looked like he was dead,” Mr. Song recalls.  “His lips got blue.  I was scared, so I took him to the hospital.  A doctor had me sign a critical notice.  He said that if Lihao didn't get surgery, he might not live to be 20 years old.  But the surgery was very expensive and there was no way for me to ever afford it.  The news felt like a building crashing down on me.”

Lihao says, “I was hot, then cold, and I couldn't catch my breath.  The doctor put oxygen in my nose.”  He recalls, “I have a friend who also had heart disease and he died of a heart attack.  I was worried I’d die, just like him.”

Through it all, Lihao continued to write.

He remembers, “My hands shook and my handwriting was crooked, but I thought to myself, if I can write more, I will.  Writing helped me escape my pain.”

He also prayed.

“Some friends told me about Jesus,” Lihao shares.  “I believed Jesus could help me, and I asked him to take away my heart disease.”

Then a doctor told Mr. Song about Operation Blessing, and you helped make heart surgery possible.

“Lihao’s illness is cured,” exclaims Mr. Song.  “Now he can run like a normal child. Thank you all for your concern and support.”

“I can jump and race with my classmates,” exclaims Lihao.  He concludes, “Now, I write about how Jesus encourages and helps people overcome hard times.  And when I get older, I want to be a part of Operation Blessing and help people like you helped me.”

Partnering with CBN means more than just giving—you’re helping feed and clothe families, providing medical aid to those without access to hospitals and doctors, and helping provide clean water for the thirsty. Your faithful giving brings hope to the hopeless and the truth of God’s Word to millions of homes through The 700 Club! Help bring the love of Christ to the world when you become a CBN partner today!